Tag: What the Bible says about spiritual warfare

Ephesians 6:13 (NKJV) 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

One of our most recent teaching series focused on spiritual warfare, covering many aspects of what goes on behind the scenes, away from the natural eye.

We taught about principalities, powers, spiritual hosts of wickedness, etc.

What we didn’t teach on in that series was how to defend ourselves against those same evil spirits, and the attacks that they bring against us each and every day.

So, today we will touch on the foundational basics of our defense against them. Then, in the very near future, we will do another series that will continue where today’s teaching leaves off.

So, consider this to be a primer on self-defense against spiritual enemies.

In the verse above, we are told that we are to take up the whole armor of God.

Why is that?

It is so we may be able to withstand in the evil day, warding off these attacks.

And, what is the evil day?

It is, literally, every day that we face here on earth. The world is full of evil, and has been since the fall of man. The enemy is always in attack mode. It’s what he does.

Each day we face new attacks. And it is these attacks that we need to be able to defend ourselves against.

As we take up and wear the armor of God, look at what verse 13, above, says we are to do; and having done all, to stand.

This is pretty significant for us to understand.

When we have done all that we know, what do we do?

We stand.

We don’t quit. We don’t back down. We don’t shrink back. We don’t fall or falter and we don’t waver. We stand at all costs.

That is, after all, just what Jesus did for us. He stood at all costs, to fulfill His mission here on earth; to set us free from the grips of sin and death.

We will teach more on this very soon. In the meantime, hold fast and press in to Him.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV) 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Part 3

As we left off yesterday, we had begun discussing principalities, the evil spirits in charge of large areas or regions.

Think of principalities as rulers over their assigned domain.

The presence and the influence of these demons is usually very visible and obvious in the fact that a specific sin, or type of sin, will tend to dominate that area.

Some areas will be rampant with sexually-related sins; adultery, homosexuality, prostitution, pornography, etc.

These sins are obviously not isolated to just these areas. They are present everywhere, but they will tend to be much more pronounced in specific areas.

And one single type of sin won’t be the only sin in an area. But, again, there will usually be one that’s predominant.

Other areas might be prone to sins of violence; murder, gang activity, stabbings, shootings, etc.

And the list can go on at length. But these should help make it a bit clearer when it comes to principalities and how they rule over areas.

If you think of specific cities or areas, you will likely be able to name a few that stand out for specific types of sins/crimes.

As we move past principalities, Paul mentions “powers”.

Powers refers to various spiritual/demonic beings that have authority in the spiritual world. They are not as strong as principalities, but have more power than the lower-level demonic spirits.

Next, we see rulers mentioned. This refers specifically to worldly rulers; people in positions of power, influence and authority here on the earth who operate as part of the kingdom of darkness.

As we mentioned early on in this series, these types of people have largely sold their souls to evil. They are owned by the devil himself. Every action they take has evil motives and unholy intent.

And finally, we see “spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places”.

This is referring to evil spirits. This ranges from various types of demons and fallen angels, to Lucifer himself.

“In the heavenly places” simply refers to the spiritual realm, the invisible world where so much happens that is unseen by the human eye. And yet, everything that happens there spills over into the natural world, where we see the manifestation and the consequences of it.

This series only skims the surface of this topic, but hopefully it will bring light and understanding to a subject that’s sometimes very hard to understand.

We will continue to teach on this again in the future as God leads us to do so, bringing more understanding and helping us all grow as believers and warriors for the Kingdom of God.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this breakdown.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV) 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities…

Part 2

Welcome back!

In yesterday’s devotional, we began taking a look at some aspects of spiritual warfare, including some of what we’re seeing around us in the world today. We established a foundation; a springboard from which we will move forward with this series.

As we mentioned yesterday, we don’t fight against men or women. We fight against the spirits that are moving in those men and women.

Sometimes it can be very hard for our flesh to separate the person from the spirit in action. But we must learn to have the eyes that allow us to see what’s behind the actions people are taking.

Make no mistake. Most of these people who are carrying out the enemy’s plans know full well what they are doing. The majority of them have sold themselves out for power and money.

But our prayers and our battle maneuvers must target the spirits of darkness that are at work, not the fleshly body in which they dwell and move.

This is probably one of the biggest things we wrestle with as followers of Christ. And there is no doubt that we all wrestle with this to one degree or another. But we have to allow God to carry us above the fleshly reactions and emotions, allowing us to see things from a 40,000-foot view, so to speak.

Doing this will help us see things more clearly than if we were to look solely through our own eyes.

And once we get to see our actual enemy at work, we can work more effectively to combat his moves.

Let’s look now at some of the spiritual adversaries we must battle against.

The first, and probably the most powerful is the principalities.

Principalities are powerful spirits/demons who have been given dominion (power, authority, control) over areas or regions.

These spirits will vary from one region to another as to what sin, or what type of darkness rules over their assigned area.

This can be clearly seen as you look at different areas.

Tomorrow we will continue to examine this in more depth.

Stay tuned.

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780

Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV) 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood…

Part 1

Spiritual warfare is something we teach on and speak about frequently.

Why? Because it’s a necessity for believers to understand it and be equipped to fight the battles that we all face.

Without proper teaching and training, we will not survive such battles.

It has become abundantly clear that we are in an epic spiritual battle right now. Darkness (evil) is working feverishly to overcome and defeat light (good).

This is not a new battle. It has been going on since the beginning of time.

John 1:5 (NIV) 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

In John 1:5, the translation used here says that the darkness has not overcome the light. Other translations use other verbs, such as extinguished, overpowered or absorbed.

It’s important for us to understand that the darkness (evil, wickedness and everything that stands against God).) will never defeat the light.

But that doesn’t mean that it will stop trying. The goal of the enemy is to take out and defeat as many people as possible before God finally brings him to his final end.

The battle that is so heavily raging right now is not a battle of flesh and blood. Our war is not against men and women, even though we see men and women carrying out the plans of the enemy.

The people carrying this out are pawns of the enemy; humans who have largely given themselves over to evil, sacrificing their souls for wealth and power. Their sins have consumed them, and God has given them over to their depravity, leaving them to their own devices.

Let’s continue this tomorrow, as we dig deeper into the spiritual aspects of this and explore it on a deeper level that will help us better understand it all.

We hope you’ll join us!

Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie

Seven Seas Ministries
49 N Lamplighters Walk
Hampstead, NC 28443

401-439-3780